The 10 Highest-Grossing Independent Films Of All Time

Though there are many indie masterpieces you’ve probably never seen, there are also a fair few that blow expectations out of the water and become smash hits. Their success can come out of nowhere, or they can be relevant to the current times, have ingenious marketing methods, or even reap financial successes out of the controversies they’ve caused.

When it comes to considering what is and what isn’t an independent movie, there are some fine lines. Technically, Quentin Tarantino’s recent movies such as Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained could be considered indies as they were produced by The Weinstein Company, which works outside of the Hollywood studio system. But as they have budgets of $50+ million and are full of A-list actors, they aren’t considered "indies" in the typical spirit of the term. All box office tallies in this list are courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11 is the highest grossing documentary of all time and it was all made off the back of Michael Moore, and any production costs came from his own pocket. Thanks to being politically relevant at the time, with the 9/11 attacks, the war in Iraq, and the election, it was a perfect storm and the movie grossed $222 million overall. And after Michael Moore won the Palm D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, it really added to the hype ahead of its release.

Juno

best Ellen Page movie according to IMDB.

Good Will Hunting

With Good Will Hunting arguably being a classic, the movie had a budget of just $10 million, half of which was the pay check of the late, great Robin Williams, who was the primary reason for the movie’s success.

The movie’s box office performance was further aided by cleaning up at the Academy Awards, taking home an Oscar for Best ing Actor and Best Writing. Good Will Hunting was expected to barely scrape the $60 million mark, but ended up making four times that, with a total of $225.9 million worldwide.

The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project changed the way horror movies were made and it was the first horror movie to instigate what Blumhouse Productions has made their business model. Though Blair Witch is only the seventh highest grossing indie movie of all time, as it made $258 million worldwide, it may be much higher if net profit is only taken in to consideration, as the miniscule budget is estimated to be between $200,000 and $500,000.

Get Out

Blumhouse Productions, a studio that predominantly produces horror movies, have the same approach to all of their movies, which is to make them with a tiny budget, market the hell out of them, and get back a modest return.

It works almost every time, but every once in a while it goes above and beyond. indie horror movies and it has grossed over $255 million thanks to its very relevant social themes. Better yet, it did so off of a minuscule budget of $4.5 million.

The Full Monty

Though The Full Monty is one of the highest grossing indie movies of all time, it rarely gets talked about as much as the others. It may be because it was very of its time as it followed several working class men and the issues that they would have in the north of England in the mid-'90s, but it still did amazingly well and it was a phenomenon at the time. Off a budget of just $3.5 million, the British movie racked up a massive $258 million worldwide.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Interestingly enough, My Big Fat Greek Wedding never reached number one at the box office, but it remains the highest grossing independent romantic comedy of all time. Though it is written by a Greek screenwriter, it is a largely American production, with the bulk of its budget coming from HBO Films as well as producer Tom Hanks. With a budget of $5 million, My Big Fat Greek Wedding banked $368 million worldwide, which means it has the biggest net profit of any rom-com ever.

Slumdog Millionaire

In one of Slumdog Millionaire to a $378 million box office intake. The movie is completely independent, as the largest chunk of its $15 million budget came from the independent UK company Film4 and it doesn’t feature any big names in its cast. The film was directed by Danny Boyle, who has had a track record of making massive successes out of indie movies, including Trainspotting and 28 Days Later.

The King’s Speech

Though The King’s Speech features an array of seasoned and award winning actors, such as Colin Firth, Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush, and more, and it has spectacular costume and set design, it’d be easy to believe that the movie is a high budget studio movie.

But in reality, the film had a budget of just $15 million, and that backing is shared between five different UK production companies. Its earnings of $414 million is owed to being bought by The Weinstein Company and being well marketed.